Hebrew Woodblock Type

Hebrew drawer, type shop, Cooper Union (photo credit: Brice McGowen)

The type shop here at Cooper Union has some Hebrew woodblocks, not enough to make complete sentences and not a large variety to even make some words, but still are really nice 100 year old blocks. I printed a few of them, just to have a specimen of some Hebrew type.

Children's Books

found these old books that my mom got when she was little, all published in Israel in 1960.

Fractal Alphabet

Sharon Pazner, a Tel Aviv based artist that often uses typography and other graphic design elements in her work, has recently publish a new series in her flickr photo stream; in this fractal alphabet, each letter is comprised of all the characters in the language's alphabet.

Hebrew Fractal Alphabet

English Fractal Alphabet

Ismar David

citation for the United Jewish Appeal, NY, 1980

Born in Germany in 1910, Ismar David studied at the Berlin Municipal school of Arts and Crafts and immigrated to Israel in 1932 where he opened a studio for graphic and interior design. in 1953 moved to New York, where he established his studio specializing in calligraphy, lettering, illustration and book design. David also taught calligraphy at the Cooper Union till 1991.

broadside RN Magazine, NJ, 1971

In 1953 Ismar David released one of the most important Hebrew typefaces, David:

David Hebrew font family, 1954

Zapf wrote about him: The work of Ismar David can always be identified by his characteristic style. [...] His expressive drawings, with their undulating linear quality and unusual construction, show his elegant style in every detail.

Peace Blessing, poster, 1976